7/27/2019 Comparison of Porcelain and Cycloaliphatic Epoxy Insulation.pdf

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Summer 2002 1

Technical Brief 

Powl-Vac™ vacuum circuit breakers and metal-clad switchgear use

a primary insulation system of cycloaliphatic epoxy. This insula-

tion has given excellent results in the eight years we first intro-

duced Powl-Vac™, but we still have customers who request porcelain.Powell is far from alone in using cycloaliphatic epoxy insulation.

The material has been in common use in Europe for a generation,and other U.S users include Westinghouse, S&C, and Square D. It isespecially interesting to see the first two of these companies usingcycloaliphatic epoxy. A few years ago, both were strong proponentsof porcelain insulation.

Although there are many formulations of cycloaliphatic epoxy and anumber of varieties of porcelain, each of which has its own specific quali-ties and parameters, one can make a number of general comparisons.

First, in the physical area, the following relationships are typical:

• Cycloaliphatic epoxy (“cyclo”) weighs less than 70 percent of 

porcelain’s weight.• The thermal coefficient of expansion of cyclo is 1/20 that of porcelain.

• The tensile strength of cyclo is about 11 times that of glazed porcelain.

• The compression strength of cyclo is four to six times that of glazedporcelain.

• The flexural strength of cyclo is 16 to 18 times that of glazed porcelain.

• The Izod impact strength, unnotched, is about the same as glazedporcelain.

• Dimensional and shape control is much easier in cyclos than in porce-lain.

• While the repairability of cyclos is limited, porcelain is unrepairable.

In the electrical area, one will find:

• The dielectric constant of cyclo is only about two-thirds that of porcelain.

• The temperature class of porcelain is much higher than that of cyclo, but cyclo mixtures with temperature classes of 105°C or 130°C arereadily available.

• The track resistance of cyclo is slightly less than that of porcelain.

• The water absorption of cyclo is slightly greater than that of porcelain but is still in the range of 0.2 of one percent.

Subject: 

Comparison of Porcelainand Cycloaliphatic Epoxy Insulation

by Baldwin Bridger, PE Powell Electrical Manufactur-

ing Co. (retired)

Finally, cyclo exhibits excellentresistance to common industrialchemicals, is readily washable, andhas excellent erosion resistanceand weathering properties.

In summary, we believe that theexcellent physical properties of 

cyclo make it the insulating mate-rial of choice in spite of some smallsacrifice in electrical properties.This is especially true for applica-tions requiring great strength un-der severe dynamic loading, suchas support insulators in circuit breakers and switchgear.

Reprinted with permission of PowellElectrical Manufacturing Co.

Baldwin Bridger, PE, is retired Techni-cal Director of Powell Electrical Manufac-turing Co., Houston, Texas. He has workedas an engineer and engineering managerin the design of low- and medium-voltageswitchgear since 1950, first at GE and since1973 at Powell. He is a Fellow of IEEE anda past president of the IEEE Industry Ap-plications Society